PLASTIC MULCHING: PRINCIPLES OF UTILISATION IN A STRAWBERRY CULTIVATION

• ground temperature which it increases more or less according to its colour (transparent, grey smoke or black);
• soil humidity which is regularized, the black film being perhaps slightly more efficient than the transparent film;
• keeping up of ground physical structure, gazeous exchanges are thus facilitated, as well as lateral penetration of rain or irrigation water;
• keeping up of nitric fertilizers soluble in the ground at level which enables them to be used immediately;
• keeping up of a non negligible quantity of nitrate after the crop;
• increase of superficial root system without any water vapour at the level of stomates;
• increase of superficial root system without any modification of the deeper root system.

The application of these principles to strawberry growing leads to very different methods of cultivation all over the world. We will study the following methods: strawberry growing in California, in Florida, in the South of Spain (between Almeria and Malaga), in France.

In some cases, the transparent or grey smoke or black mulching film is used alone; in other instances, it is applied in association with a low or big tunnel.

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